Vacuum churn apparatus.



T. BERNTsoN.

VACUUM GHURN APPARATUS.

l APPLICATION FILED APRA, 1910. 975,380, `Patented Nov. 8,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

` alito/pum? T. BERNTSON. VACUUM CHURN APPARATUS.

y lAPPLICATION FILED APRA, 1910. 975,380, Patented`Nov.8,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

V i' A n from.

UNITED STATES' PATENT-ernten.

THOMAS IBIEIRJILSOII', F PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA,ASSIGNORTO J. WORTH CA'RNA-I HAN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT COLUMBIA, AND F. C. PARK, 0F PITTSBURG,

PENNSYLVANIA.

VSpeciication of Letters Patent.

Application led April 1, 1910. Serialv No'.l 552,887. W

VACUUM CHURN APPARATUS.

To all whom 'it may concern.: n

Be it known that I, THOMAS BERN'rsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and into any suitable type of vessel containing a quantity of cream and manually operated to simultaneously agitate and aerate said material to separate the butter fat there- The main object of the present invention is the provision of spaced specifically-formed plates designed to be introduced into a'body of cream and rotated therein through the.4

use of any preferredtype of manually operable or power mechanisms, the plates being.

- formed to create a vacuum during such rotation and the space between the plates having direct. communication with the atmosphere beyond the body of cream, whereby in the .rotation of said plates the creation of. the

vacuum serves to continuouslydraw. currents of air into the materlal forpthe p'ur oses of aeration and at the sametime .in u ee the` desired agitation. a A further object of the invention vis the rovision of auxiliary defiecting or current interrupting means designed for use in connection with the improved churn apparatus,

and int-he use of which the rotary current imparted to the' cream by the rotation ofv the plates is interrupted with the effect Ato direct thel cream continually toward the plates and insure a more thorough aeration.

and agitation of the same.

The invention in its preferred details of construction will be described in the following specification, reference being had par:-

ticularly to. the accompanying drawings, in.

which Figure 1 is a view in elevation,'partly 1n section of the `improved churn apparatus.

` plates.

.vide the aeratin -ears 5 1n fixed re atlon to each other so as `to bers. Fig. 6 is a view of the blankfrom which the plates are stamped.' Fig. 7 is a.

v'broken View in elevation,`partly in section,

showilig a meansv for supporting the churn apparatus in position in the vessel. Fig. 8'

is a. broken plan 4of the same. Y

Referring particularlyV to the accompanyu ing drawings, the improved churn ap aratus con'lprehends.'specifically the com ina tion of a few'. simpleparts arranged for Patented Nov. s, l1910.

ready .separation for cleanincg pur oses and esi for close storage when not re for use,

the apparatus asa whole being designed for coperation with any type of vessel suitable for holding the desired quantity of cream.

'In the preferred embodiment of details,

the improved device may be said to include an aerating section and means for rotating or revolving the same within the material.

Theaerating section comprises duplicate upper and lower plates 1 and 2, secured to# l gether to `produce a vacuum-forming member. These plates which in plan are. of disk or circular form, are so constructed that their edges follow a regular sinuous outline, that is, present a series of alternate elevations and. depressions, as 3 and 4, beyond'the norlmaledge lane of the disk.l The lineof coincidence etween a depression, as 4, and an elevation as 8,( adjacent thereto does not ei:-v tend radially of the' diskbut ineifect tangentially thereof. Each disk, preferably co l.

incident withthelowest' ortions ofthe de.

vations in the lowerA disk',isfforineds.LwithL bent at -right angles to the pA disk. The disks are secured together to pro' member by securing the space the plates apart. vIn this. arrangement v, of the plate the elevation 3 of the upper plate sol annular flange 10, preferably integral with the plate and forming the wall of the opening. Asleeve member 11is removably con nected, preferably by threaded connection with the flange 10, which sleeve is of such length as to. extend above the level of the cream when the device is in use. The upper end of thesleeve is provided with a tubular section 12 preferably threaded onto or otherwise removably connected with the sleeve. The tubular section 12 is formed with an annular series of openings 13, and the wall ofthe section'above thel openings is materially thickened to form a bearing portion 14 having a central opening 15 of materially lessv diameter than the interior diameter of the tubular section and sleeve, and carrying a set screw 16. A

The aerating member is designed for removable connection to and mounted upon what may be termed a power rod 17, which rod passes through the opening 15 in the tubular section, lengthwise the sleeve 11 and `through the aerating member, the plane portion 7 or lower plate being formed with an opening 18 to permit such passage. The

aerating member is designed to be secured at any desired or appropriate height upou the rod 17, and fixed thereto in a manner to permit convenient removal through obvious use of the set screw 16.

The power rod `is designed to kbe rotated in any appropriate manner and through the use of any desired mechanism. For convenience, the present apparatus is illustrated as a hand instrument, and as a convenient operating means for the power rod, I have shown the upper end of the said rod mounted ina bearing 19 from which rises a bracket 20 carrying a handle extension 21. A double pinion 22 is fixed upon the rod 17 immediately adjacent the bearing 19 and i's engaged by a beveled power gear 23 mounted in the bracket 20 and operated by the usual handle 24.- Iny this specific arrangementg whichas previously stated is merely illus/- trativeof one typey of driving means the pinion 22 and gear 23 are to be of such relative sizes as to impart the desired speed to the aerating member without necessitating unusual exertion on the part of the operator. Former experience, has demonstrated that the proportion between these gears of about eight to one produces satisfactory results.

In the useof the apparatus, a vessel 25 of any desired type is supplied with a suitable quantity of cream, and the device is introduced. into 4said vessel so that the aerating member, or more particularly the plates thereof are well'below the surface lof the cream. If desired, the vessel may be formed with a bearing depression 26 and the lower end of the rod 17 appropriately'formed to fit therein, as at; 27 whereby the lower end of the'device is held against lateral movement and the operation of the apparatus thereby facilitated. In the rapid rotation of the plates, the cream" will be forced into a rotary (current and in a direction away from the plates. This movement of-the cream be-1 tween the plates, by reason of the alternate wide and narrow outlets tends to create a vacuum within the chamber 6 with the effect to draw a very considerable quantity of air through the openings 13 in the tubular section, through the sleeve 11, and into the chamber 6 to thoroughly aerate the material; This aeration together with the agitation resulting from the movement ot the parts tends to a speedy and eit'ective separation of the butter fats, as will be obvious to .one skilled in the theory of butter production. To facihtate such se aration in point of time, I provide and pre er to use what I term current interrupters, illustrated more particularly in Fig. 5. These interrupters, of which any number desired may be used, are preferably comparativelynarrow metalli'c strips 28 having a length approximately equal to the height of the vessel and preterably formed at the uppelr end with ot'set clips 29 to engage the upper edge of the vessel and secure the interrupters against the side wall thereof. These interrupters are -the cream and thereby increase the agitating and aerating eiect of the. apparatus, the interrupting tendency serving to direct the material back toward the center.

In Figs. 7 and 8, I have shown a simple means whereby the upper end of the device may be held in temporarily 'fixed relation to the' v ssel toavoid the necessity of manually supporting the same while in vopera- I tion. Such means-includes the strip 32 centrally formed with an offset portion 33 shaped to partly encircle the power rod im,- mediately above the tubular section, a latchl ing'member 34 engaging the rod 'in opposition to the portion 33 and fixing the supporting means to the rod in a conveniently separable manner. The ends of the. section 32 are formed with clamp members 35 to engage the edge of the vessel, and said section .32 is of such material that the lengths projecting from the rod engaging portion 33 may be bent at any desired angle to such portion, whereby the supporting means may be arranged to accommodate itself to vessels of di'erent diameters.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a blank from which the disk plates are constructed, this illustration being intended to indicate the' the structure. It will be 'noted that the. plates are stamped from the blank in circlilar form and that the ears 5 are arranged in two diametrically opposite pairs, so that the waste of material is maintained at the miui muni. V.

The aplniratusl is particularly eli'eetive with fresh cream, and` after separation of the butter fats as described, thc-resultant milk product may be drawn off in any convenient way, and will be found to be thoroughly fresh and sweet and capable of any and all uses to which the ordinary milk product of the separator is adapted. After drawing oli' the milk product the butter fats which .then appear in comparatively tine globular form may be effectively salted byadding thereto salt Water solution and tlior-V voughly impregnating said butter fats by several turns of the apparatus. Any desired coloring matter may be-used inv the usual way, and the butter fats after removal from the vessel pressed into desired forni in the manner incident to butter manufacture. l y

The salient feature of the present invention resides in the aerating member, which, through the peculiar formation of the plat'es tends to-a rapid aeration ofthe. material and a consequent quick separation of the butter fats. Another and most importantl feature from a commercial standpoint is the simplicity of the structure and the ease with which itk may be operated and elfen-.tively handled by anyone whether-,skilled in thev working of butter or not. The few parts of which the device is constructed enable it to he manufactured at a low cost,'and the construction and arrangement of such parts, particularly in their convenient separation and assembling Without the use of tools or mechanical knowledge establish the device` essentially for home use, as neither skill nor knowledge of butter making-are required for its successful operation. Furthermore, the ready separation of its various partsv renders it highly sanitary in that it--may be taken wholly apart, cleaned, and `asseinbled by anyone Without loss of time.

It is to be understood that I contemplate the construction of thevparts of any desired material, preferring however, the useof aluminum or the like for those parts coming in direct contact Wit h the cream. The device may also be made in various sizes in accordance With the quantity of material to be churned at any one time. What is claimed is l. `A churn apparatus including an aerating member comprising spaced plates, each plate being formed with alternate depressed and elevated portions, and means for con# nectingthe plates in iixed relation.

2. A churn apparatus including an aerating member comprising' spaced superimposed plates, each plate being formed with alternate depressions and elevations,A and means for connecting the plates with the y opposite the elevations of thelother.

A churn apparatus including an aerating member having a central chamber, said chamber having an edge opening formed to alternately resent widened and narrowed passages, a s eeve secured to the member and in op'en communication `with' the chamber,' and a tubular section secured to the sleeve.

and formed with an inlet opening, said section'being closed against the direct admission of the material in the churn.

4. A churn apparatus including an aerating member'havmg a central chamber, said chamber having an edge opening formed to alternately present widened and narrowed passages, a sleeve removably secured to the member and in `open communlcatlon with the chamber, and a tubular sectlon removably secured to the sleeve and formed with an linlet. opening, said section being closed against the direct admission of the material in the churn.

5. A churn apparatus including an aerat- .ing member comprising spaced plates each formed with alternately -depressed and elevated portions, a means carried by the free edges of the plates for connecting said plates in fixed relation.

6. A churn apparatus including an aerating member comprising spaced plates each formed with alternately depressed and elevated portions, and ears proJecting from the re.'-;.pectve plates andadapted to be connected together to secure the plates in fixed relation. l

In testimony whereof I afix my signature in presenceof two Witnesses.

. THCMAS BERNTSON. lVitnesses:

DAVID W. GOULD, BENNETT S. JONES. 

